Marketing to Millennials: The Evolving Mind-Set

Companies everywhere want to know how to engage millennials. How can they be part of the two-sided conversation that resonates with this unique audience? Public relations professionals aspire to immerse themselves in the millennial world of social media platforms. They long to be tweeted, pinned, liked, and shared, multiple times over.

There are a few things that other generations should know about tailoring brands, marketing, and communications to this exclusive crowd. This particular group of contemporaries is different, unusual even. They mark the evolution of society as a whole and marketing to millennials might be a challenge sometimes. They are by far the largest generation to come along and their demand for a technology based approach to almost everything is changing the way business is handled.

Go Mobile

Companies that want to do marketing to Millennials should be prepared to go mobile. There is no getting around it. Nearly 85% of people between the ages of 18-34 own smartphones and they use them a lot. This means that a company whose marketing is optimized for a mobile experience has a larger window of time to reach their target audience. Keep in mind that this generation wants the best and they want it now, so the pages must be graphically on point and load quickly.

Be Unambiguous

The Millennial generation does not have the same traditional goals as previous generations. They are more of a “tit for tat” group. Everything is based on the “if, then” equation. As previously stated, this is the group of evolutionaries. Companies and communications should be clear and to the point. They don’t like to be “led.” This group doesn’t want to know a company’s mission statement, they want to know how to be a part of it.

Target Population Segments

Millennials are not about life stages and white picket fences. Milestones were for previous generations. If you want to reach Millennials you must target social groups or even social causes that they can participate in. The Millennial generation has a strong connection to social identities. Businesses should consider these social personalities for communication purposes. This is an “engage me” audience. The more technologically immersed they stay, the more likely the campaign is to be successful.

These are the three biggest strategies that PR professionals and businesses need to consider when creating a campaign targeted to Millennials. The brand itself is not as important as its cause. This group has a different set of values. According to Millennials, the resonation of the conversation is not nearly as important as its platform on which it is hosted.